The present invention relates to a degasifier for the removal of gases or vapors from fluid flows including vapors or gases.
Fluid streams including mixtures of gases or vapors with liquids occur in many technical processes. In most cases it is advantageous if the gas or vapor content of the fluid stream can be substantially reduced. Examples are:
(a) Crude oil pumping:
The oil pumped usually contains an undesirably large amount of gases which greatly increases the pressure losses in the pipeline and consequently reduces the pumping performance. Also flow surges may occur in the pipeline which cause high mechanical stresses in the pipeline and may lead to failure of the pipeline. Such flow surges are especially objectionable at the end of an oil pipeline leading from an oil field to an off-shore but also an on-shore plant. In order to avoid such flow surges in the plant equipment, there are provided surge suppressors which are quite large and expensive.
(b) Evaporators:
In the evaporation of liquids the heat transfer is substantially better if the vapor content of the liquid is only small, that is, if only small vapor bubbles are present in the liquid, than it is when the vapor content, is relatively high. The provision of equipment which reduces the vapor content of the liquid permits a reduction of the required amount of heat exchange surfaces and of the pumping power which therefore increases the efficiency of the plant.
Conventional gas-liquid separators such as cyclones, containers with large surfaces, etc., have a large volume and therefore require a substantial amount of space and therefore are relatively expensive.
German Pat. No. 3,419,159 discloses a degasificatier which is associated with a pipe section and has a container disposed above the pipe section and a branch tube providing for communication between the pipe section and the container.
It is the principal object of the present invention to provide an improved arrangement which is simpler in design and which results in a substantially increased separation efficiency.